All Hell Breaks Loose (37 page)

Kimberley’s stubborn lip quivered for just a moment before she buried her teeth in it.  “Fine,” she said.  “Yes, he started sending his own
Werewolves
to infect others.  Their orders were to find males who fitted Jason’s idea of the perfect soldier.”

“Young, fit and single?” Irene asked.

Kimberley nodded.

“Why did they leave the infected men behind after they attacked?”

Kimberley drew a deep breath; there was a slight hitch in it. “He called it their rite of passage,” she finally began to explain.  “In the world Jason grew up in, a guy has to prove his worth before he is accepted into the family, so at first he waited to see if the infected guys made it through the Change before he collected them and brought them into his fold.  If they could make it through the Change and through their first few days as a
Werewolf
, then they were good enough to be one of his.”

“Is he doing research into what kills or harms
Werewolves
?”  Irene kept the pressure on.

“I can’t be sure, but I assume so,” she confirmed.  Her voice had lost all emotion: she was speaking like an automaton.  “I know he experimented on some of his own men, but he accidentally killed one, so then he employed some disgraced bio-geneticist to help him.  They’ve set up a laboratory at the facility where the
Werewolves
are housed.  They developed a sedative that works on
Werewolves
and the suicide capsules.”

“Why the recent increase in human attacks?  He seems to have become impatient.”  Irene was relentless.

“I don’t know all the details.  Jason doesn’t tell me much,” she said dully.

“Tell us what you do know, and what you suspect.  You’re a clever girl, Kimberley.  You must have worked out some of what he was doing.”

Kimberley sighed, and the last of the fight went out of her, her body posture slumped in resignation.

“Most of what I know I got from eavesdropping on conversations and secretly reading his e-mail.  What I do know is that somehow one of his most powerful clients became aware that he’s developing super-soldiers.  The client has placed an order already, and he’s not a man to mess around with.  Even Jason shows this person respect.  I think this man is involved in a conflict in the Middle East somewhere.  Jason is under pressure to deliver.  He hadn’t counted on the fact that
Werewolves
fight among themselves or that it takes months for them to learn to control themselves.  He forced some of them to become Pack leaders even though they aren’t true Alphas.  He wouldn’t listen to me about the true nature of
Werewolves
.  He thinks he can control
them with fear and pain like he does everyone else.”  The last words tumbled out, and desolation filled her voice.

“Why has he taken Kyle?” Margaret asked softly.

Gabi sat forward, dread clenching her stomach muscles.

“He found out that Kyle was special, that he didn’t have the normal
Werewolf
control issues, and didn’t have to Change at full moon.  I swear I didn’t tell him,” her voice suddenly became
ardent,
she lifted her eyes, begging for them to believe her.  “I pretended ignorance on personal details like that.  I told him that Shifters and
Werewolves
don’t mix much, and I think he believed me.  It must have been one of his first
Werewolves
.  Or it might have been that shadowy bitch he meets a couple of times a month.  He thinks I don’t know about her, but I followed him one night, and I saw them talking.”

“So he took Kyle because he wants to find out how he is different from the other
Werewolves
?” Irene asked, bringing Kimberley back on topic, but a look passed between the Magus and the Shifter Elder; they would get back to the matter of the shadowy woman later.

“Yes, I think he thinks that Kyle has a different strain of the virus.  He wants the bio-geek to isolate the virus and replicate it to use on some of his human soldiers.  He hadn’t wanted to risk using his other soldiers before, but he is under pressure now and will try just about anything.  I also think he was hoping to convince Kyle to work for him.  He doesn’t understand that some people aren’t motivated by money.  I’m not sure what he’ll do if Kyle refuses him; as I’ve said before, Jason doesn’t like to be told no.”

“Would he be holding Kyle at the facility you spoke of?” Irene asked.

“Yes, probably.
  I wasn’t given the details of that side of the operation.  I was responsible for getting Derek out of Gabrielle and the Vampire’s clutches and driving him to a meeting point.  One of Jason’s soldiers delivered Kyle’s clothes and van to me after they’d taken him.”

“Kimberley, we need to know where the facility is,” Margaret prodded her.

“I don’t know,” she almost wailed.  “Jason wouldn’t take me with him to the lab.  He said it was for my own safety, but I don’t think he ever truly trusted me.  He kept the location of the lab and training facility completely secret.”

“You need to think, Kimberley, stay focussed,” Irene ordered as the younger woman broke down into tears again.  “There must have been some clues you could work with.  How long was he gone if he went to the lab?  Was it in the City, on the outskirts?  Did he say anything about it during a phone conversation?  Any small detail could help us figure out where it is.”

Kimberley blew her nose once again and took another sip of water; a small pile of wet tissues was collecting on the table in front of her.

“It has to be quite a large place,” she said, chewing on her trembling lower lip.  Her eyes went distant as she gave the question some serious thought.  “He houses all the
Werewolves
as well as some of the un-deployed mercenaries there, and I think he also stores some weapons and ammunition there, though his main storage depot for arms is not in the City.”  She looked up with excitement on her face.  “It would probably be close to a private airport, or possibly at a private airport.  Jason often spoke of incoming deliveries and aeroplanes.  He spoke like once the plane touched down the goods would be secured within minutes, like there wasn’t much of a distance between the two places.  There is underground storage at the place; I heard him talking about fixing a leak that was allowing water into the storage area, it was definitely underground.  That’s all I can think of.”

“Patrick,” Julius said, “
find
us a map and set up a war room in one of the buildings.  Leave messages for the Guard and Liam and Nathan to join us there as soon as they rise.  Get the
Blackriver
Pack leader and his second in here, too.”

“Yes,
Sire
.”  Patrick marched from the cottage.

Derek and Trish had come back inside and were standing back, watching quietly.  Trish moved towards them, an extra mug in her hands.  She offered Gabi one of them, and Gabi accepted with a nod of thanks.

“I might be able to narrow the search further with this new information,” Trish said, already aiming for a computer set off to one side.  “Let me just network this to the computer I was working on before, and I’ll run the parameters through the information I’ve found on Jason King, something might just pop.”  She dragged the typist chair over, sat down, and let her fingers fly over the keyboard.

Gabi glanced back at the three women on the central monitor; the interrogation was still ongoing, but they had moved on to the mysterious woman Jason met with, as well as his other associates.  Gabi had the information she wanted.  She couldn’t sit still for another moment.  She was out of the chair and pacing, sipping on her coffee as her mind whirled with the information.

“Fucking Hell,” Alexander breathed out the exclamation.  “Who would’ve believed that all this shit could be caused by one idiotic mortal?”  He sounded personally offended by the fact.

“Don’t underestimate this mortal,” Julius cautioned.  “He is cold, calculating and manipulative.  Not only has he proven himself capable of murder, but he obviously considers himself above anyone’s law.  He has an army, an arsenal and unlimited funds at his disposal, and considers everyone else around him dispensable.”

“He’s a narcissistic megalomaniac with a God complex,” Gabi muttered.  “I wonder if he’s even fully
sane?
” Unconsciously her hands went up to probe the wounds on her head.  She couldn’t find them, not even a tender spot remained.  Her mind suddenly recalled the events immediately following the last time she’d been healed after ingesting a large amount of Julius’s blood, and she had to turn away from the men to hide a faint blush.  It was probably a good thing that there was something else to focus on instead of Julius.  She forced the erotic memory to the back of her mind and focussed instead on the problem of finding Kyle.

Suddenly the sound of ‘Thunderstruck’ blasted through the cottage, and she winced.  She was seriously going to have to do something about that ringtone.  She ignored the raise eyebrows and reached for the phone.

“Yeah, Byron?” she said, answering it.  She listened to him for a moment, her lips twisting in annoyance.  “We don’t have time for this, Byron.  We need to go after Kyle.  You heard what she said.  And that man is insane; he’s capable of just about anything.”  She paused as Byron continued, and her jaws locked together as she bit back a curt retort.  “But Patrick and Alistair can—
”  Byron
interrupted her.  When he finished, she closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath then looked over at Julius.  “Hold on. I’ll ask him,” she said into the phone, then addressed Julius, the irritation clear in her tone. “The Council have convened a meeting tonight; they would like us all to attend.  They would like to know if you have somewhere safe that we can hold the meeting, as they are worried all their venues have been compromised.”

A slight tightening around his eyes was the only sign of the Master Vampire’s own irritation.  He kept his voice smooth and appeared unruffled by the orders and the delay, but Gabi could feel what his controlled demeanour belied.  He gave a slight nod.  “There is a poolroom in one of my clubs that we can use.  It is soundproof and staffed by my own people, so it will be safe.”  He gave her the address.

Gabi agreed to a meeting time of 7:30 with Byron, knowing that it would be safe for the Vampires by then, and they’d still have most of the night to pull off a rescue.  They had an hour to come up with something concrete on the location of Jason’s lab before they’d have to leave for the meeting.  Julius was beside her as she shoved her phone into her back pocket.  He didn’t touch her, but she felt his desire to.

“Are you feeling all right?” he asked her. 
“After the blood?
  No unusual side effects?”

“I’m fine,” she confirmed. 
“Better than fine.
 
Ready to take on Dr Evil and all his minions.”

Julius smiled.  “Good.  Grab
yourself
some food, and meet me in the war room in twenty minutes,” he said.

“Why, where are you going?” she asked.

“I, uh, also need to feed,” he replied softly, his eyes carefully searching her face.

“Ah,” Gabi said, understanding.  She put a warning frown on her face.  “Be sure to pick the oldest, ugliest one,” she ordered before giving him a quick but passionate kiss on the lips and striding from the cottage.

Alexander’s chuckle followed her out.

This meeting was a little different from the last one that Gabi had been to with Julius and the SMV at the same table.  This time Julius was making no attempt to downplay his own power or to hide the strength and numbers of his Clan.  By the time the members and invited guests of the SMV began to arrive, Gabi, Julius, his Guard and his staff were already in place.  There were over two dozen of Julius’s clan members in the main area of the pool hall.  They were playing pool, chatting, and pretending to drink, while keeping an eye out for trouble of any kind.  The
group was rough and imposing enough to keep all but the club’s regular patrons from entering. 
Tabari
was on patrol outside, watching the perimeter of the building.

In a side room, several long tables had been pushed together to fashion a makeshift conference table.  Chairs had been placed at regular intervals around it.  They were of the hard, plastic, community hall variety.  Julius was obviously trying to keep this meeting short and to the point.  Marcello, Fergus, Charlie and Quentin, as Julius’s personal guard, were standing against one wall, behind the seats Gabi and Julius would take, their expressions alert, their presence menacing.  Liam and Nathan would be seated at the meeting table, along with Patrick and Alexander.  Nathan was acting host and showing new arrivals to their seats.  A map of the City lay open on the table, as well as several photos and some blueprints.

Gabi paced one side of the room, chewing distractedly on her thumbnail.  The others arrived in dribs and drabs, as they’d been ordered to take taxis to the club.  Though Kimberley had adamantly denied that anyone else’s vehicle was being tracked by Jason, the Council had decided not to take any chances.  Further questioning had revealed that there was a lot of Jason’s life that Kimberley was not party to.  It became apparent to Irene and Margaret that he didn’t trust the Doppelganger entirely, and they suspected the shadowy woman Kimberley had referred to was not human.  They were working on the theory that she was Magus.